Mike_L

Anybody have any idea how to do it? I just cannot have halogen bulbs in there. Saw one a couple days ago and it looks awful. I need to retrofit LEDs. Found nothing for the C7 by searching.

I'd actually like to pull the whole housings if I could, so I could tint them at the same time. It looks like the black plastic covers need to come off, but I don't want to break something prying on it.

TY.

Mike_L

Nevermind. I figured it out. There are two clips and two tabs holding the black covers in place. The clips are at the top and bottom and clip onto the light assembly. The tabs are in the middle and are for alignment.



Then you are met with 2 T30 torx screws, which can simply be undone. Be careful not to drop them. The hole underneath them goes into the rear bumper, and I don't see a place for them to fall out.



Then simply pull them out. Theres just one ball and socket holding each light in place, and its not very tight.

EDIT: Here's the pic of the back of the light. This is the driver side.




The upper socket is the reverse bulb, and its a 921. I replaced them with 7W CREE projector style LED bulbs, which I use in virtually every car I own. Got a pair for $18 from a domestic seller on eBay.

Installation is the reverse of removal. Put the ball in the socket, Screw the lights back in, and put the trim panels back on. Make sure you line up the tabs first or the trim panels won't clip on right and will pop off.

I'm gonna try to get pics tonight of them on, but I'm using my iPhone camera, so they may not be great.

Mike_L

Wait!! Its T25, not T30. Why can I not edit my posts? Thats ridiculous.

Also, make sure you get CANBUS compatible bulbs, or you'll get the bulb warning in the dash.

Mike_L

Here are a couple of day time pics.





Needs tint in a bad way.

Mike_L

Like I figured, the night time pics are all glare. The iPhone5's camera sucks.

Mike_L

Mike_L

UPDATE

This is a failed mod. Even the CANBUS Error Free bulbs are throwing bulb out errors. Theres something about Audi thats not accepting the resistance of the Canbus chips and is still seeing the LEDs as failed halogens. I tried 3 sets and they all worked the same way. They lit up fine, but the computer saw them as being out. I could code the errors out with BMW, but I have no idea how to do it with VAG-COM, so they gotta go.

Guess I'll throw in a set of SilverStars tomorrow and see what happens

tenspeed

Try a load resistor. The computer is looking for the resistance of the incandescent bulb. One resister might be enough to satisfy the VAG COM.

Mike_L

Already did. No good. Tried one on each side, still no good. Worked for 2 or 3 back up cycles and then threw the same error. Something is really screwed up with the way these cars are set up. Wonder if thats why nobody is running LEDs in the back ups? Also wonder why Audi decided not to use them when everybody else does, and they have more than 30 of them in the lights anyway...

EDIT: Just did some reading on the web. Seems that Audis just don't like LED bulbs for exterior lights. For interiors and license plate lights, they're fine, but for any other exterior bulbs, they always throw codes.

Oh well, live and learn. Off to AutoZone.

Jimingle10

bump on an old post... I found a working set of bulbs for this use. no errors

Error Free Super Bright 912 921 LED Bulbs For Backup Reverse Lights

On another note, I broke a clip and a tab from each of the plastic covers that hide the torx screws. Is there a secret for putting these back in? They just don't want to go back in the same way they came out lol